Page:Gissing - Workers in the Dawn, vol. I, 1880.djvu/34

24 gave it a compact and comfortable air; while in the autumn evenings all the front windows would glow with the warm reflection of the setting sun, and the smoke from the high chimnies curl up in many-hued shapes which seemed to bespeak the home-like comfort within. As you viewed the house from the front, there was, indeed, an object which gave it an air of individuality as distinguished from any other pleasantly situated country house; this was a somewhat newly-built tower, mainly of glass, which constituted a modest observatory, containing a large telescope, which was one of the chief delights of the clergyman's existence. This tower he had had built immediately after his entering upon the living, not without considerable scandal in the neighbourhood, where Mr. Norman was in consequence at first regarded as a species of Dr. Faustus, with whom it might possibly be dangerous, notwithstanding the apparent soundness of his doctrine, to hold much connection. It had indeed been formally decided at a meeting of the Bloomford Ladies' Sewing Club: "That this club considers the study of astronomy to be a sinful prying into the mysteries of the Almighty, and consequently a wilful tempting of His displeasure; that this club is surprised and grieved that a clergyman of the Church of England should set such an example to the weaklings of his flock; and that this club